How to build an IPA without signing in Xcode 8

ios xcode xcode8 ipa
James Cockerham picture James Cockerham · Nov 21, 2016 · Viewed 21.7k times · Source

I have searched around SO and other places. I have only found older versions of this answer that don't seem to work any more, and tons of other stuff that isn't even relevant in the latest version.

Long story short, we have a developer providing an IPA to us, who doesn't want to join our developer group. I told him to send us an unsigned IPA, but we couldn't get it figured out based on our old process.

Has anyone done this yet, and would you mind sharing your method with the world?

Thanks!

Answer

James Cockerham picture James Cockerham · Nov 28, 2016

I ended up finding a working solution for xcode 8. Here is the step by step

  1. (Optional) Change build location

Xcode>preferences>locations>derived data>custom>your desktop

  1. Open Terminal and navigate to the project's folder
  2. Run manual build: xcodebuild -workspace (or -project) [workspacename.xcworkspace] -scheme [Schemename] -sdk iphoneos -configuration Release CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="" CODE_SIGNING_REQUIRED=NO
  3. Open the location from Step 1 (derived data) and navigate to >your app>build>products>Release-iphoneOS
  4. Copy the .app file into a new subfolder named Payload (this folder name is case sensitive and much match verbatim)
  5. Compress Payload folder and rename it to app_name-version_number.ipa

Boom. Done.

Related questions

Xcode error: Code signing is required for product type 'Application' in SDK 'iOS 10.0'

I have Xcode 8 installed on OS X El Capitan. I get this error: Signing for "target" requires a development team. Select a development team in the project editor. Code signing is required for product type 'Application' in SDK 'iOS 10.0'

Read More
Linker Command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation), Xcode 8, Swift 3

I can't get rid of this error! I have tried all sorts of things like clearing Derived Data(Preferences->Locations->click gray arrow to open Derived Data folder in Finder->right-click, move to trash), cleaning the project(…

Read More
Hide strange unwanted Xcode logs

When using the Xcode 8+ and creating a new blank project, the following logs appear when running the application: 2016-06-13 16:33:34.406093 TestiOS10[8209:100611] bundleid: com.appc.TestiOS10, enable_level: 0, persist_level: 0, propagate_with_activity: 0 2016-06-13 16:33:34.406323 TestiOS10[8209:100607] Created DB, header sequence number = 248 2016…

Read More